DESIGN, INNOVATION, AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE IN

VIRTUAL WORLDS.............................................................................................................................................................................................

R. ATES GURSIMSEK, M.Sc.

PhD

Fellow

Roskilde

University, CBIT

α. ABOUT β. PREVIOUS

RESEARCH γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

δ. SANDBOXES ε. THANKS &

THINGS

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R. ATES GURSIMSEK, M.Sc.

BACHELOR OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN Middle East Technıcal Unıversıty, Ankara

M.Sc. IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Istanbul Technıcal Unıversıty, Istanbul

α.

ABOUT

“TORINO 2008 WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL INTERNATIONAL

SUMMER SCHOOL: DESIGNING CONNECTED PLACES”

(active welfare) (july, 2008)

10TH INTERNATIONAL “DESIGN FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE” WORKSHOP

EMRE SENAN DESIGN FOUNDATION(izmir. june, 2008)

α.

ABOUT

•

Dutch Design Week (XXI Magazine, Nov. 2005) (with

Odul AKYAPI

GURSIMSEK)

•

Future Directions in Product Semantics:

New Medıa Objects and Cyberspace (Design and Semantics of Form and Movement Conference, Northumbria University, Newcastle -

UK, Nov. 2005)

•

Tasarım ve Anlam Üzerıne Yenı

Yönelımler: Etkileşim

Tasarımı

ve

Yeni

Medya

(3rd National Design Congress, ITU Taşkışla

TR, June 2006)

•

"Interfaces of the Real": Semantic Discourse on Object and Consumption in Interactive Product Design (EAD07 Dancing with Disorder: Design, Discourse, Disaster. 7th International Design Conference, European Academy of Design and Izmir University of Economics, Izmir -

TR, April 2007)

•

"Cyberspace and Virtual Environments as Contemporary Realms of Symbolic Exchange": Mediatization

of Self-Identification in Post-

Industrial Society (Transforming Audiences Conference, Westminster University, London -

UK, Sept. 2007)

β. PREVIOUS

RESEARCH

CULTURAL INTERACTION THROUGH VIDEO GAMES: ANALYSIS OF

PLAYSTATION CAFÉS IN ISTANBUL AS CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL

COLLECTIVES(Metıs Publications. awaiting)

AUGMENTED SPACES AND TRANSFORMING SPATIAL

EXPERIENCE(Design Research Society 2009)

β. PREVIOUS

RESEARCH

DESIGN FOR THE VIRTUAL WORLD * :

USER-DRIVEN INNOVATION IN

SECOND LIFE AND THE

ROLE OF DESIGN IN

MULTI USER V IRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

With

Multiuser Virtual

Environments

(MUVE s), such as Second Life

(SL), individuals are provided

with

more comrehensive

means of experiencing the online space.

Gordon

and

Boo

(2008) categorize

the

four

characteristics

that

draw

us ınto

vırtual

worlds

as:

"immersion,

group formation,

constructive ownership and

imaginative playfulness."

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

Recent reports of IGE Ltd, estımate

that almost $1 billion was spent (in RL currency) in 2005 (Hof, 2006). According to Warren Ellis’

Reuters Report in January 2007, the average money (in US Dollars) spent in one day

in Second Life exceeds $1,600,000.00 ($1,689,143 in Jan. 4, 2007) (Ellis, 2007).

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

Several large global companies, such as IBM, Nike, Cisco, and Wal-Mart have already launched their virtual branches (Hof, 2006; Kremen, 2007) and working on ideas on how to develop new methods for their operations in management, marketing, and product design (Hof, 2006).

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

Most

visitors’

interest in experiencing the physically unachieveable spaces, artifacts, skills and

relations provide designers with a vast market of unsatisfied needs, and possible innovative solutions for the virtual environment.

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

Designers in Second Life capture the demands of their (virtual) customers, introduce new fields of commerce, and offer personalized (and mass produced) artifacts to avatars who are willing to spend money on

their SL looks

and

their

virtual identities.

γ. PROPOSED

RESEARCH

Considering how significant

personalized artifacts and spatial organizations

are in Second Life, I believe it is important to investigate how design affects the user preferences about their representational selves (avatars), the spaces to which they feel attached, and their social positionings

in the virtual community.

δ.

SANBOXES & USER DRIVEN INNOVATION

SANDBOXES are

building

zones

in which

various

users

can design,

produce

and

test artifacts, buildings,

animations

etc.

Their

importance

lies

in their

role of enabling user driven innovation, and

help

sustaining

the

growth

of the

virtual

economy

in Second

Life.

δ.

SANBOXES & USER DRIVEN INNOVATION

As public

spaces

for

individuals

to

try

out

building, these

Sandboxes

also

enhance social interaction between members. People

can ask each

other

questions, ask for

help

on specific

subjects, work

together, or

evaluate

each

others’

productions.

δ.

SANBOXES & USER DRIVEN INNOVATION

Involving

efficient

Sandboxes

and

similar

possibilities

for

user

generated

content

would

not only

provide

virtual

worlds

with

many

possibilities

for

future development and

new

contexts

for

online interaction but also

introduce

new methods and tools for design.

O

……

……

……

……

…

δ.

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

What can virtual worlds offer in terms of design methodology, market research, usability, authenticity and innovation?

How does individual entrepreneurship and user-driven innovation possibilities drive the market by answering to existing needs and offering new solutions with new technologies?

How do user-product interactıon and users’ emotional experiences with the artifacts function in Second Life’s social structure?

What can be the new tools & criterias for effective design processes (and products) in Second Life?

Should we categorize Second Life’s designed artifacts as contemporary objects of product design and architecture, or interaction and graphic design? Or both?

δ.

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

What

are

the

ethical

implications

of observing

virtual

communities

in virtual

worlds

?

Thank you…

REFERENCES

Gordon, E. & Koo, G., 2008. Placeworlds: Using Virtual Worlds to Foster Civic Engagement, Space and Culture 2008; 11; 204.

Hof, R.D., 2006. My Virtual Life, BusinessWeek Online, http://www.businessweek.com

/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm, (date of access, 22.09.2008)

Ellis, W., 2007. Second Life Sketches: Two Worlds -

Fame and Infamy, Reuters/Secondlife, http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/01/05/second-life-sketches-two-

worlds-fame-and-infamy/, (date of access, 22.09.2008)

Kremen, L. 2007. A Second Life for Big Business, Technology Review, http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18016, (date of access, 22.09.2008)